Covenant is well known across the U.S. for its transportation and distribution center services, but customers should also be aware of the company’s Port & Drayage Solutions, designed to save time and money on short-hauls to and from port.
Port & Drayage Solutions
Drayage, the term used for short-distance cargo maneuvers from ocean ports to inland locations, may seem like an insignificant, smaller step in the supply chain. However, these “first mile” transports often prove to be the most pivotal.
Consider for a moment all the steps in a supply chain as dominoes, lined up and ready for the first to fall to initiate a series of ordered movements. In this imagined scenario, the drayage tile is positioned right at the start, immediately after a cargo’s arrival at port. This drayage tile must fall perfectly to ensure a sequential trigger of all the following steps, which together lead to successful cargo management and on-time deliveries. Flipping this, any failure of the drayage tile means the entire supply chain feels the effects early on, causing massive disruption down the line that almost always yields higher operational costs, cargo delays and other issues.
As a three-time Supplier Excellence Award recipient, Covenant intimately understands the critical need for successful “first-mile” drayage services. Our full-scale logistics portfolio accounts for this, allowing us to offer 150 dedicated drayage trucks, a number of chassis, as well as containers (in both 20- and 40-foot sizes) to clients. Rest assured that the Covenant team has the necessary certification and training in place to ensure effortless transportation of both HAZMAT and overweight cargoes from port to their next destinations. Even urgent, next-day deliveries and higher-volume seasonal shipments from port can be accommodated.
Our Drayage Network
Covenant’s drayage network spans the Southeast United States and South-Central regions, with dedicated fleets of trucks and equipment supporting cargo coming in from ports and rail ramps as far south as Houston, Texas, and Savannah, Ga., to as far north as Plymouth, North Carolina. No matter where in this footprint customers need to move cargo from port, Covenant can provide timely drayage services.
“One-Stop-Shop” Services from Port
Providing drayage support from port to the next destination is only part of the equation, however. For these short movements, Covenant makes every effort to coordinate backhauls to prevent carriage of empty containers on the return leg. This critical step of “backloading” reduces the total operating cost of the truck across loads and allows Covenant and its customers to maximize freight utilization for both transport legs.
In addition to two-way, short-haul services, Covenant offers valuable warehousing support, including cross-docking, container offloading, port-to-dock door, crating, reloading, storage (including food and temperature-controlled storage), full inventory management and more – all with complete visibility. Click here for more details.
Learn more about Covenant’s recent Savannah warehouse and port services.
